The Punjab factor
The persistent structural flaws in information processing and coordination among intelligence and law-enforcement agencies were once again exposed during the Supreme Court suo motu hearing of the Hazara killings. The…
Our founders and guardians
A fellow-columnist has asked why “if we had to go through this (the mess that Pakistan has become today) did we go through the trouble of Partition?” (February 22). Let’s…
India’s self-goal in the Valley
On the morning of Feb 9, 2013, Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri convict on death row, lodged in New Delhi’s high security Tihar jail was taken from his cot by the…
No wrong turn now
It is time the pernicious idea of giving a few years` contract to some caretakers to clean up Pakistan`s rotten-egg politics and put the affairs of the state in order…
Change: order vs disorder
The Bible says there is a time for every purpose under heaven - "A time to be born and a time to die;...a time to weep and a time to…
The fundamentalist mind
Fundamentalism is a controversial term, ascribed first to 19thcentury American Protestant groups which preached strict adherence to basic biblical tenets. It is now applied loosely to all groups exhibiting broadly…
The truth about Balochistan
The power-hungry sardars and nawabs widely visible on Balochistan’s political scene are a by-product of the establishment’s long-term policies. These sardars derive their legitimacy from the civil-military establishment, and they…
Costly appeasement
The past week has left the Pakistanis grappling with two serious issues: they cannot protect the Hazara Shias of Quetta, nor can they resist the armed extremists. The result of…
Wrapping up the war
Corporate profits have rocketed to all-time highs – but for more than a decade, wages and incomes have hardly budged. — Barack Obama, State of the Union Address, 2013 Barack…
Pakistan`s triple front
Pakistan is at another inflexion point in its eventful history. It confronts strategic challenges simultaneously on three fronts: internal, western and eastern. The internal challenge is most palpable: economic stagnation;…
